Recipe: Nita's Easy Apple Dumplings with Vanilla Sauce on a Bed of Cherries (like Woolworth's)

Hi April,

I don't think this recipe will be exactly what you remember because it uses bisuit dough instead of pastry.

Notes about this recipe from Allison/2003:
"I tried the recipe posted by Nita Holleman for Woolworth Apple Dumplings. I was aware that Nita had never actually made the recipe, she was trying to solve this mystery. First, the ButterMeNot biscuts that Nita thought would work do not cling to the apples when they are baked - they fall down and gather at the bottom of the pan. I used Rome apples, and I had to bake them at 375-400 for over an hour for them to finally become soft thruout. The vanilla sauce was much to thin and runny and needs to be thickened. Also, Woolworth's vanilla sauce was primarily white. This sauce however, was brown and looked like apple cider."

I'm going to post another recipe after this one for Apple Dumplings with Vanilla Sauce and maybe you can combine them to come up with a good match.

Happy Baking!

Betsy

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Description of Woolworth's/Kmart's Apple Dumplings with Vanilla Sauce:
"The peel was left on the apple, it was covered with a white vanilla sauce, and the dumpling sat on a bed of cherries."

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NITA'S EASY APPLE DUMPLINGS WITH VANILLA SAUCE ON A BED OF CHERRIES
(copycat version Woolworth's)

FOR THE VANILLA SAUCE:
5 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup granulated sugar
1 (12 oz.) can Mountain Dew
1 1/2 teaspoons apple pie spice (or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional))
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract*
FOR THE DUMPLINGS:
1 can (10) Butter Me Not Biscuits, separated
5 Winesap, Rome or Washington Red Apples, cored and rinsed with cold water
1 can cherries for pie (not pie filling)**

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x13-inch dish or pan with Butter Spray, or lightly grease it with butter

TO MAKE THE VANILLA SAUCE:
Combine and bring to boil the butter, sugar, Mountain Dew, and spices. Add the Vanilla Extract. Set aside.

TO PREPARE THE DUMPLINGS:
Separate biscuit dough into 10 pieces. Flatten each piece of dough into a circle. Wrap one biscuit around each apple HALF. Join, pressing together to make a seam. Place, seam side down, in baking pan. Leave top of pastry open so you can access the apple core. Pour half the sauce mixture over dumplings.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes.

AFTER BAKING FOR 20 MINUTES:
Pour contents of can of cherries in the dish, spreading it around the apples. Baste Dumplings with remaining half of the sauce and continue baking until golden brown.

TO SERVE:
Scoop cherries from dish and place some in the bottoms of five individual serving dishes. Lift apple dumpling and place on top of the cherries. Serve plain, or top with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream.

*Do NOT use Imitation Vanilla Extract. The results will NOT be the same if you do!

Adapted from source: Nita Holleman/rec.food.recipes/2003